1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a technique of providing a passenger on a self-driving moving body with display of a virtual space that is different from a real environment surrounding the moving body.
2. Description of the Related Art
The technologies with regard to automatic driving of vehicles have recently achieved remarkable development. Automatic driving at the level of autonomous driving including an operation to change the moving direction, as well as speed control and an emergency stop of the vehicle has recently been achieved and become closer to practical use.
The automatic driving of the vehicle is substantially implemented by the following technologies. Various sensors including a GPS (Global Positioning System) and sensors detecting surrounding features using laser and a camera are mounted on the vehicle. A control device of automatic driving uses these sensors to detect the position and the attitude of the vehicle and surrounding features. The control device compares the results of detection with a three-dimensional map of high accuracy provided in advance and specifies the position and the attitude of the vehicle with high accuracy. The control device also specifies features which the own vehicle is to avoid, for example, pedestrians and oncoming vehicles, among the surrounding features. The control device then controls the speed and the moving direction of the vehicle, based on these various pieces of detected and specified information.
During automatic driving, the driver is essentially expected to be allowed to direct the attention to something other than driving. For example, the driver is not required to fix the eyes on the front but is expected to have no problem when directing the attention to something other than driving, for example, game or reading. Even when automatic driving is achieved, when there is a risk of a crash due to a failure of the sensor or the control device of the vehicle, the driver is required to drive the vehicle and avoid the risk. When the control device of automatic driving changes the moving direction to avoid a risk while the vehicle goes straight ahead monotonously, the driver who does not grasp the outside situation recognizes that the vehicle has an unexpected motion and feels significantly uneasy. In the present state of automatic driving, the driver is not allowed to fully direct the attention to anything other than driving, due to the safety awareness and the discomfort due to a failure to understand the motion of the vehicle.
A countermeasure against the foregoing prevents the driver from visually checking the situation surrounding the vehicle, for example, by mounting a head mount display on the driver and enables the driver to enjoy something other than driving, for example, a game or reading. Techniques have also been developed to provide the passenger or more specifically the driver of a general vehicle as well as the automatic driving with various information by display. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2008-230296A discloses a technique of emphatically displaying features such as pedestrians and other vehicles on a head mount display which the driver of the vehicle wears.